Line welding



Dec. 3, 1929. R. E. WAGNER ET AL LINE WELDING Filed Jan 19. 1922 '3 Sheets-Sheet r m ma w m n a r eWL o v ,U .l .E a a m .m 1% m 0 EW T 1m 1929. R. E. WAGNER ET AL 1,738,465

LINE wELDIhG Filed Jan. 19. 1922 s Sheets-Sheet 2 ii 330% M by Theirfl ttorne 1929- R. E. WAGNER ET AL ,73 5

LINE WELDING Filed Jan. 19. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 9.

Inve ntor:

Rob ert gm e11 WesLe gE. Lawoi b M gb,

Theiw'flt orneg.

i Patented Dec. 3, 1929 H UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE ROBERT E. WAGNER AND wEsLEY E. 'LAIRnfroE rITTsE'IELn, MASSACHUSETTS, as

' 'SIGNORS To GENERAL ELEcTRIc ooMPANY, A CORI'QRA'IION 01 NEW YORK LINE WE DING Application filed January 19, 1922.. Serial No. 530,434.

J Our invention relates .to electric welding and more particularly to resistance welding of the type wherein two or more articles, for

example, sheets or plates, are welded together in a line or seam and wherein the. heat for bringing the articles to a welding temperature in the line of'the'weld is developed in the articles to be welded by passing an elec tric current therethrough.

An object of our invention is to provide an apparatus and method of operation which shall so determine the path of flow of the welding current as equally to heat the articles to bewelded and develop the heat at the exact point where weldihg is taking place thereby securing eflicient and rapid operation. A further object of our invention is to enable a strong, tight joint to be made without danger of burning through the work in the line of the seam. A further object of our invention is to provide an apparatus which shall be simple to operate, rugged in construction and capable of making several types of line weld.

Our invention will be better understood from the following-description taken in con nection with the accompanying drawings and its scope will be'pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings Fig.1 is a side view of an apparatus embodying our invention, certain parts being broken so as to show the construction more clearly; Fig. 2is

an end view of the apparatus shown in Fig.

1;' Fig. 3 is a partly sectional view showing 'the preferred construction of the welding wheel; Figs. 1, 2 and 3 also show how'the v welding wheel may be arranged to weld deep ly corrugated sheets or plates; Fig. '4 is a detail view showing lever mechanism for" controlling the driving relationship between the 1 feed. screw and the welding head,- Fig. 5

shows a modified construction of welding wheel anl also shows a modified arrangement for welding corrugated sheets together; Fig. 6" is a fragmentary side view showing how the welding wheel of Fig. 5 may be secured to the welding transformer; Fig. 7 is an end view of the parts shown in'Fig. 6; Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary views illustrating the principle of operation of the welding wheel; Fig. 10 showshow the welding wheel may be used for making a. double line weld; 'Fig. 11 shows a modified construction of welding wheel .for making a single line lap weld; Fig. 12 shows how the welding wheel may be arranged to make a butt line weld.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the welding,

transformer, comprising a core ;1, primary wlndings 2 and single turnsecondaries 3, is

adjustably supported under carriage 4 by four rods 5 provided with springs 6-arran ed to bear against the top of the carriage 4. %he

rods 5 are free to slide in holes in the top and bottom frame members of the carriage so that a portion of the wei ht. of the transformer may be carried 011 t e springs 6. By adjusting wing nuts 7 i on the bolts 5 thepres sure applied to the welding wheel may be ad justed to the desired amount. The carriage 4; is supported on channels 9 by flanged wheels 10 which are mounted on shafts 11. The channels 9 may be supported at their ends by any suitable frame work and these channels should be lon er than the seam to be welded so P that the weldlng wheel, when at either end of When the toggle is broken the transformer is lowered and the amount of pressure that is transferred to'the welding wheel is by the adjustment of the wing nuts According to our-invention a divided weldgoverned ing wheel is used the preferred construction of which is -shown'more clearly in Fig. 3; This welding wheel comprises two copper disc electrodes 16,and 17 carefully insulated from each other. The welding elec rodes are carried by and are respectively in electrical contact with the ends'of the secondaries 3 of the transformer. The corresponding ends of these secondaries lead to and are connected together by terminal members 18 and 19 which are arranged to be clamped respectively 5 against the faces of the electrodes 16 and 17. Since a large contact area is provided between the electrodes and terminal members a very strong clamping action is unnecessary. Since the movement required for suflicient clamp- 19 ing is slight this movement is readily provided by the resiliency of the single turn secondaries 3. To secure the clamping action a suitable clamping lever 20 is provided which lever is arranged to cooperate with an insulated bolt 21. The edges of the op-, posed faces of the welding electrodes are beveled or inclined to rovide a substantially V shaped circum erential groove in the welding wheel and, where the edges of the work are upturned as shown at 22, a heavy welding current may pass from one side of-the welding wheel through the upturned edges of the sheets to be welded to the opposite side of the welding wheel.

' The divided construction of the welding wheel is particularly adapted to the method of clamping the wheel in place. If electrodes supported on independent hearings were used it would be necessar not only to provide stationary bearings fiir the respective electrodes but it would also be necessary to arrange such bearings so as to prevent the electrodes from,coming into contact with each other. The members 18 and 19 are notched as shown at' 23, Fig. 1, to provide bearings for the shaft of the welding wheel. In the modification here shown a divided axle 2.4, 25 is providedand each shaft division or stub shaft is provided with a head secured to the respective wheel division by screws 26. These heads are inserted in depressions in the electrodes 16 and 17 and suitable insulating ma- "terial such as a thin plate of lava 27 is provided to insulate the divisions of the elecf trode wheel from each'other. To remove the welding wheel", as for example, where it is f desired toiijsert anew welding wheel, it is necessary'to loosen the clamping lever -2'0 an-d mes the Welding transformer by the *lev'er' lfl, thus allowing the welding wheel toid'ropi out of the slots 23. The beveled arf rangeme'nt of the electrodes whereby the "1,5,W'eldiiig wheel has a V shaped circumferential roev'e'is' peculiarly adapted to produce a v jgood weldas will be hereinafter more fully 'j'set forth. s l

' In the embodiment of our invention here disclosed the work is stationary and the weldeo ing wheel is arranged to move alongthe line of the seam to be welded. It -i's apparent,

. however, that our invention is not limited to 1 this arrangement since if desired the welding head may be stationary and the work moved.

In order to move the electrode over the work we provide a threaded shaft 28. Any suitable means, for example, an adjustable speed motor, may be provided for driving the shaft 28 and any suitable means may be provided for clutching the carriage to the shaft to cause the carriage to travel or remain stationary as desired. As shown more clearly in Fig. 4 we preferably provide a nut 29 provided with ball thrust bearings 30 on each side arranged to bear against projections 31 and 32 from the frame of the carriage 4. A lever 33 is arranged by means of a toggle 34 to operate clamping members 35 and 36 pivoted in the members 31 and 32. When the lever 33 is moved to straighten the toggle 34, nut 29 is held, against rotation and the carriage is moved alon the line of the Weld in accordance with t e direction of rotation of shaft 28. To stop this motion of the carriage it is merely necessary to operate the lever 33 to break the toggle 34 and free the nut 29.. When thecarriage has been operated to the desired extent in one direction the shaft 28 may be reversed to move the carriage in the other direction and welding may be performed with either direction of the movement.

In order to lead the welding current into the movable transformer we preferably provide a pair of trolley wires or the like 37 suitably suppbrted on the channels 9 by insulators 38. Trolley wheels 40 mounted in arms 41 pivoted on the carriage 4 are spring pressed against trolley wires 37. Suitable leads'42- connect the trolley wheels with the primary windings 2 of the transformer.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the welding wheel is arranged to weld together deeply corrugatedsheets which may, for example, be used to build up transformer tanks and the like, the corrugations being utilized for cooling purposes. The compact arrangement of parts makes it possible to Weld down in between corrugations that are quite close together.. Moreover since the sides of the welding circuit comprising thewelding electrodes are very close together the reactance of the secondary circuit may be reduced to a very low value, thereby improving the power factor and efficiency of the apparatus.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show modified construction of welding wheel and method of mounting the same which may be used. The welding wheel here shown comprises copper disc electrodes 43 and 44 mounted on ashaft 45 supported in the members 18' and 19' which are connected to the transformer secondaries in the same manner that the corresponding members 18a nd 19 are connectedin the modifications heretofore described. The electrodes '43 and 44 are insulated from each other by a lava disc 46 and are held in place by clamping collars 46 which are in turn held in place by split washers 47. The electrodes 43 .and 44 are insulated from the shaft 45 and from the washers 46 by suitable insulation 48 such as mica. H Since the shaft 45 is inthis case inone piece, it mustbe insulated from the transfofmer terminal members. 18" and 19'. This 'insulationgmay be provided by insulation 49 under thebearing linings 50 secured tothe members-,18and 19'; Figs. 6 and 7 also show a modified arrangement'for-clamping the transformer terminals against the-sides of theweldingwheel. This clamping arrangement comprises a lever' 51 arranged to operate-ashaft. 52 the ends of which are oppositely threaded. Rotation of the shaft 52 causes clamping bars 53 to engage suitable insulated. pads. 54 on the terminal members 18 and 19 and clamp the terminal members against the welding wheel. The welding wheel is shown in Fig. 5 as arranged toweld together corrugated members 55 and 56 which are supported in a guide I member 57 grooved to fit the corrugations in the sheets to bewelded- The downward pressureof the welding wheel causes the V shaped believed to be obviousfrom the prece dingde' groove to engage the edges of the sheets to be welded and crowd them together. The same action takes. place. with the arrangement shown in Fi s. 1,2 and 3 and it is obvious that the wel ing :wheel shown in Fig. 3 may be used to weldthe corrugations inthe manner shown in Fig.5 if desired.

The general operation of our invention is scription but certainadvantageous efiects ere. incident to the use of our type of welding wheel in making line welds in the manner described. Line welding is greatly simplified and cheapened for the reason that it is wholl unnecessary'to clean the edges of: the stockto be welded as isnecessary with all line weldi-ng machines heretofore; proposed with weld made byour apparatus is exceptionally which we are familiar. Line welding is thus made as cheap, as far as cleaning the stock is concerned, as ordinary arc welding. The

strong since there is an upsetting of the work which corresponds generally to the upsetting produced by the butt-welding. of ,two pieces of metal in the well-knownThomso'n process. This upsetting. action will be apparent from Figs. 8 and 9. Fig. 8 represents the condiwere'placedjonthe stock without closing the tion that would obtain if the welding wheel welding circuit. The upturned edges of the stock are indicated at 55' 56,. 1 The edge portions lie substantially side by side and extend in substantially the same direction. The

sheets to be weldedmight be flat against one another ifan edge weld of such character were desired. The edges of the stocklie substantially in alinement or flush with each' other and the inclined contact. surfaces of the welding wheelengagethe outside corners of the upturned edges. Upon the passage of welding current from one side of. the wheel to the other the welding wheel sinks further" I into, the edges of the welded sheets by reason of the softening of the metal and theweight of the transformer. The softening .metal is thus forced out or upsettoform a bead, the

weld beingof the section "shownat58 in Fig.

9.v automatic control of the density-of the welding currentper square-inch of stock takes place, which control prevents burning uniform, if the rate of travel isdecreasedor the voltage at the primary circuit. increased, the. wheel will sink further into the edges of the welded sheets giving a greater area of contact and keeping the welding current? from blowing a hole inthev work. If a hard spot is encountered in the work, thewheel rises decreasing the area of contact-andconcentrating the welding currenton a smaller portion of the seam. As the metal softens 'theweightof the transformer forces the wheel down welding the edges of the seam and causing increased area of cont-actuntil the I welded. metal will not yieldfurtherto the pressure. In v operation these effects-take place so-rapidly that the wheel is not raised or lowered appreciably and a. smooth uniform weld results. ''.The V shaped groove in the weldingwheel notonly crowds the sheets to be welded together making it unnecessary to provide specla-l clamping means to clamp the sheets together prior to welding, but also 3 confines and compacts and thereby to a certain extent forges the metal ofthe weld. The welding current is, moreover, confined to a very small part of the work and the heating effect is, therefore, very concentrated sothat the metal to be welded is quickly and efficiently brought to a welding temperature.

' The construction of the apparatus, moreover,

insures that the same welding current shall 'flbw through both of the sheets to be welded. If a single electrode were used to lead current into the joint to be welded, the current might divide unequally in the sheet, even though the welding wheel were provided witha V shaped groove,'since one of the sheets might project beyond. the other and carry most of the current. V This effect wheel by the weight'of the transformer inthe manner hertofore set forth, it will be obvious to those skilled in theart that pressure betweenthe welding wheel and work may be produced in other ways and that it is broadly immaterial as faras the action of the welding wheel is. concerned whether the wheel is While we prefer to arrange the apparatus 1- "so that pressure is applied'to the welding pressed against the work or the workagainst the wheel.

y The platesare compressed between the elec-.

trode wheel and conducting support 61 pref.-

erably of copper, extending along the line of the joint. Welding current flows in series through the two welds at 62 and 63.

Fig. 11 shows a modification in which a single line lap weld 64 is made between the plates 59 and 60. The electrode wheel division 17 is made with a contact face considerably wider than the contact face of the electrode division 16 so that there is no tendency to raise the plate 6Q'under 17 to a welding 3 @tem erature.

F1g. 12 shows the electrode wheel arranged roduce a butt weld between the plates 59 an /60. The electrode divisions 16'. and 17" are provided with comparatively wide con-' tact faces so that most of the heat is developed at the abutting edges of the plates. In

butt welding it is usually desirable to press the edges of the sheets together at the startmg point of the weld, separating the edges at the opposite end of the seam a small amount. a As t e welding progresses, the sheets are pre ssedtogether by some mechanical means assisted by the contraction of the weld, until at the end of the seam the edges have been drawn together and a perfect seam made.

' In Fig. 12 we have shown two pressure" wheels and 66 which have their axes at an angle with the seam and line of travel of the wheel. These ressure wheels are arranged to travel wit the welding wheel and serve to press the edges of the sheets together as the weldin progresses- It will be 0 vious to those skilled in the art that in its broader aspects our invention is not limited to the exact structural arrangements shown and described and we therefore aim to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and varlations as fall within the spirit of our invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, is:

1. The method-of resistance line welding which comprises'arranging the edge portions of the sheets to be welded so that they extend in substantially the same direction and lie substantially side by side with their edges substantially flush with each other, and ap-' plyin welding current and pressure to the outsi e corners of the upturned edges of the sheetsalong planes inclined to the plane of the meeting edge portions of the sheets.

2. The method of resistance line welding j sheets having upturned edges arranged substantially flush with each other, which comprises applying welding current and pres sure against the outside corners of the upturned edges.

3. The method of resistanceline welding articles having edge joints lying side by side and substantially'flush, which comprises applying welding current and pressure to the outside corners of the upturned edges of the edge portions along planes inclined to the plane of the joint to be yielded to upset and forge-the metal of the joint, "and regulating the density of the welding current according to the upset to prevent burning of the metal.

4. The method of resistance welding articles having edge portions lying side by side and in substantial alinement which consists in'applying current and pressure to the outside corners of the edge portions and in forging the welding joint into a bead formation by said pressure on the edge portions. 5. A welding machine of the class described comprising a pair of adjacent relatively movable conducting terminal members arranged to be connected to a source-of welding current, a welding wheel comprising a pair of electrodes insulated from each other arranged between said terminal members, and means for clamping said terminal members against the sides of said welding wheel, said terminal members bein arranged to provide bearings for said wheel and arranged to provide a large area of contact with the sides of said electrodes whereby good electrical engageinent may be secured with a clamping pressure sufiiclently light to permit said wheel to rotate readily.

6. A welding machine of the class described comprising a transformer, means for supporting said transformer to permit self adjusting relative movement between the work and said transformer during the welding operation, a pair of adjacent conducting terminal members rigidly secured to the respective terminals of the transformer secondary, said secondary being constructed and arranged to be sufliciently resilient to permit a slight movement of said terminal members toward and from each other, a welding wheel comprising a pair of disc electrodes insulated from each other and mounted between said terminal members and means for clamping said terminal members against the sides of said welding wheel, said terminal members being rovided with slots to furnish bearings for said welding wheel and permit the ready removal thereof and arranged to provide a large area of contact with the sides of said electrodes. 1

7. A welding machine of the class described comprising a welding wheel consisting. of a pair of disc electrodes secured. to-Q the welding wheel and the work may vary to gether and insulated from eachoth'e-r, the ad-" bhange the area of contact between the weldacent edges of said electrodesbein'g inclined ing wheel and the edges of the work.

to. pr'ovidela circumferential. groove in the In witness whereof, we have hereunto set welding wheel, and a transformer provided our hands this 17th day of J anuary,'1922.

with terminalmembers in electricaland me- I chanical engagement with the sides of said,

welding wheel to supply welding current to said'electrodes, said terminal members being arranged-to providebearings for said welding wheel whereby the weight of said trans a former may be utilized to force thewelding wheel against the work. I a

8. A welding mach'ne, of the class described for welding the upturned edges of sheet or similar work.v comprising a transformer provided with resilient secondary terminal members,'a welding wheel mounted to rotate between said terminal members, said wheel comprlslng ampair of disc electrodes insulated fromeach other, means for clamping said terminal members against the sides of said wheel, the edges of the adjacent faces of said electrodes being beveled to provide a circumferential groove in said welding wheel adapted to make contact with and crowd-together the edges of the articles to be welded;

' the weldin wheel against the work.

' permit said wheel to rotate readily.

9. A we ding machine of the class described comprising a welding wheel including a pair of electrodes insulated from one another and provided with stub shafts, a pair of conducting terminal members having slots and means for clamping said terminal memgood electrical contact is securedbetween said terminal members and the sides of said wheel with a clamping pressure sufliciently light to 10. A welding machine of the class described comprising a welding wheel, a transformer including secondary terminals slotted to form bearings for said wheel and arranged to engage the sides of said wheelfor transmitting current thereto, and means for adjusting the pressure exerted on said bearings by the weight of said transformer.

11. Iitf'a line welding machine for welding theupturned edges of sheets or similar work, a welding wheel comprising a pair of disk electrodes insulated from each other, the edges of the adjacent surfaces of-said electrodes being beveled to provide a circumferential groove in said welding wheel adapted to make contact with and crowd together the edges of the article to be welded, and means for resiliently supporting the welding wheel arranged to formbearings for said shafts,

35 relatively to the work whereby the position of ROBERT E. WAGNER. WESLEY E. LAIRD.

CERTIFICATE or CORRECTION.

- Patent No; 6 I Granted December 3, I929fto ROBERT m mourn ET' AL.

\ It is hereby certified that error appears in, the printed specification of the above numbered-flaunt requirinz'correction as follows: Page 4, line ,80', claim 3, for the word "yielded" read "welded"; page 5, line' 16, claim 8, for"'sheet" read "sheets"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the reoord'ol the cage in the Patent Officm.

Signed and sealed this 7th day of January, A; D. 1930.

M. J. Moore;

(Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents; 

